Ask, Seek, Find

Remember as a child when we would ask our parents for something, and they would either say no, maybe, or yes depending on whether or not they thought it would benefit us? I remember asking my mom on many occasions if I could stay home from school, and her answer would always be “unless you’re really sick, than absolutely not.” I would often put on a pout, or whine at the fact that she was not allowing me to do something I wanted to do. But looking back now, I’m grateful that my mom was not someone who was easy to persuade, because after all, she is my mom and knows what’s best!

In Luke 11:9, we read this:

So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.

You may be thinking,”okay, so technically if I ask for anything I will receive it because that’s what the bible says.”

False.

The bible does say that if we ask for anything in Jesus’ name, He will give it to us. However, our “asking” needs to align with God’s will.

Prior to entering into a relationship with the Lord, I was notorious for wanting everything “now” vs. later. If I wanted a new shirt, I’d buy the new shirt. If I wanted the latest cell-phone, I’d purchase a new cell-phone. If I wanted to be in a relationship, I’d pursue finding a relationship.

It was all about me, my needs, my desires, my time-schedule, my goals.

But once we enter into a relationship with Jesus, by accepting Him as our Lord and Saviour, we already begin the process of letting Him shape our desires.

We ask Him for forgiveness

We seek His will for our lives

We find the blessings that awaited us from the beginning.

As He begins to soften our hearts, we begin to desire the things in heaven as opposed to the things of this world.

I don’t have the desire to buy new clothes all of the time or keep up with the latest piece of technology.

Once you have Jesus, and Jesus has you, the desires of our hearts will change. He becomes our portion. He is just enough for us.

In order for God to help us, we need to surrender our hopes and dreams to Him. Of course, there are still things that I long for. It’s a human characteristic we all carry. But those “things” may or may not be what God has in store for us, which is why we must surrender our will to His.

Psalm 37: 4-6 says:

Delight thyself also in the Lord: and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass. And he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noonday.

What ever that “it” may be for you, depends on whether “it” lines up with the will of God. Submission is the key to finding out what the Lord truly wants for us, and in turn He will bring us joy and everlasting peace. No matter what the situation may be, we need to trust that God has our best interests at heart.

We need to depend on God at all times. Depending on God is not asking for something, going out and getting it ourselves, and then asking God to bless it. Being dependant means relying upon someone else to help us. We must depend on God for everything in our lives if we want to develop an intimate relationship with Him.

John 15:5 puts it this way:

I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.

Charles Stanley once said “whatever we choose to do apart from God, will eventually turn to ashes.” However, once we realize how desperately we need Him to guide us, lead us, correct us, and shape us-we then begin to see how truly weak we are but yet how amazingly strong He is.

I should probably mention that sometimes what God wants for our lives may seem ridiculous to us, or to outsiders. For example, when God placed in my heart that He wanted me to attend school that was 2.5 hours away from home, I didn’t know what to think.

First off, it would have made things so much more complicated in terms of finding a place to stay, paying for rent, finding someone to drive me and pick me up, etc. It just seemed unrealistic, and I wasn’t “loving” the idea of having to depend on others all the time. I am a very independent person and have always been that way since I was a young girl, so why should I all of a sudden have to rely on everyone else to do things for me when I’m a grown adult?

But in that season, God was teaching me a lesson. He wanted me to depend on Him for every little thing, even if it seemed silly. On the first day of school, God placed a wonderful lady in my life named Sarah who ended up becoming one of my closest friends. She offered to drive me and pick me up every single day we had class, and willingly gave me a tour of the town on the first day we met. She has been such a blessing in my life, and I am so grateful for God’s favour in that season of my life. Not only did He bless me with the gift of friendship, but He provided me with a place to stay, financial assistance, wonderful friends and teachers, and so much more. I truly believe that this was the favour of God being poured out on my life all because I chose to depend on Him for everything while attending school hours away from home.And who would have thought that a year later, my family would have purchased a farm just fifty- minutes away from where I was attending school. This made the commute ten times easier for them, until eventually I was blessed with my own vehicle to drive to and from school.

So what are the things that you desire mostly from God? Are they things that you think would align with His will? If so, have you surrendered these things to Him? Can you think of a time where you surrendered something to Him, and He blessed you with something far greater than you had in mind yourself?

To this day, there are still times where I struggle with surrendering everything to God because of my own time-schedule. But after walking through some of the most difficult times in my life, where all I needed was God to be with me, He was faithful and went above and beyond what I could have ever imagined for myself.

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7 Comments

Amen! And amen! I love reading your blogs, Sara. The Bible tells us in James we ask, but do not receive but we ask amiss. We desire but do not get because our motives are all wrong. Submission to the Lord is the key and it is intentional.

Thank you for taking the time to read Brenda! I am so inspired by you as well, and I love your commentary on the blogs because you always share a part of scripture that relates to each post. Bless you for reading and sharing your words of wisdom, I’ve learned so much from you!

You are right. Thanks for the reminder. I often thank God for all the no’s in my life because if I had got my own way, my life would have been a mess. I still don’t know what’s good for me at times and so I am happy when he looks at me and says, “Er…no!”

The bible tells us that a man plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps. Sometimes, we may think we have our best interests at heart or that we can fill a void by doing something that can be potentially harmful to our souls. The truth us, the Lord God is our provider, and our protector. When he shuts the door, it’s because He has something better for us in mind. Thank you for your message, God bless!

Sara, you amaze me through your writing! God has blessed you immensely with this gift! I have a few years on you Sara and I struggle all the time with me wanting it my way not His way! Till I come to the realization that He is in charge of it and I give it to Him nothing goes well! When I was 10 I was mature for my age and I started liking boys! I had my eye on this boy from church for 5 years trying to get his attention, not praying about it. Then I was taught when I was 16 that I should be praying for my husband! So I was praying for him. That summer my heart pounced from my stomach to my throat realizing he had a girlfriend. That was tough! Less than a year later from that day I was asked to play my flute in their wedding! Though I was still hurt I did it! Then from that day on I prayed for my husband! Yes I had many days where I questioned what was wrong with me why can’t I have a boyfriend, all these young ones can find one, why not me? Then when I was around 23 yrs old , my Sunday school class was watching Beth Moore! It was like she was talking right at me saying “Shauna, yes many can get what they want like nothing, but those who wait patiently to get the same things will be more appreciative of it and will keep it” (Those were my words lol, but that’s the gist of it). Waiting patiently was still hard sometimes, but then when I came to school Tom came into my life right when I was about to give up! God’s answer might be yes, no or maybe, but waiting is the most important piece!

Shauna, what an incredible story of God’s work in you. I’m inspired by this story of how God was able to use that period of singleness to prepare you for what you have today. You have often told me never to “settle for less”, because when we wait patiently, and trust in the Lord to fulfill His promises, we are blessed and encouraged to continue placing our hope in Him. Thank you once again for sharing this incredible story of God’s faithfulness. I pray that you and Tom will enjoy many years of God’s blessing and joyful moments!